If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Syncing contacts and calendar with Outlook using Kies

I have recently synced my contacts from my old Nokia N95 to Outlook and then synced my new Galaxy S with Outlook to get the contacts on to the new phone. Once they were there I had to spend some time editing them as not all of the data was copied across but now it is all sorted out.

But what happens if I try to sync the Galaxy S with Outlook again? I would now want the data on the phone to be kept and used to overwrite the older version of the contacts on Outlook but I daren't click on the Sync Contacts with Outlook button in Kies in case the Outlook contacts overwrite the ones on the phone (that I've spent the best part of a week editing!). Are there some settings somewhere that I can use to make sure that this doesn't happen?

If you go to the contacts app on the phone you can export them all (Menu > Import/Export > Export to SD Card).

It will create a single file called something like 00001.vcf which contains all your contacts. Note that this will not remove your contacts, it just backs them up.

Then you can try to perform the outlook sync. If it doesn't go as you'd hoped, just delete all your contacts from the phone, then import them again from the backup file you just created. (Menu > Import/Export > Import from SD Card).

Unfortunately not. I always save calendar events to my google account rather than the "my calendar" thing, this keeps the calendar synced with my online one, but as far as I know there is no way to export an existing calendar from your phone and import it into your google account.

OK so how do you go about saving it to your google account? Again I'd have the same concern as I had over syncing the contacts - which version overwrites which? I've spent several days setting the calendar up on the phone so I'd like to be able to back it up somewhere, to the googlemail account (that I was forced to create) would be fine. But how can I be sure that the first time I try and sync it that the blank version on googlemail won't overwrite the full and up to date one on the phone?

When you create a new calendar event, it gives you the option of saving it to "My Calendar" or your google calendar. Use the google calendar. On Eclair you used to have to choose this every time, but on FroYo it remembers what your choice was and uses it every time you create a new calendar event.

Originally Posted by petesavan

Again I'd have the same concern as I had over syncing the contacts - which version overwrites which?

Not exactly sure what you mean by this, as any calendar events you have created on your phone using your google account will already show up in your online google calendar if you have sync enabled.

Originally Posted by petesavan

I've spent several days setting the calendar up on the phone so I'd like to be able to back it up somewhere, to the googlemail account (that I was forced to create) would be fine.

If you have been setting your calendar up using the "My Calendar" function of your phone, then the only place you can back your calendar up to is Kies. Unfortunately, Kies can't Export the calendar to a format that your google calendar can read It uses some proprietary scheduler format for some reason only Samsung know.

"My Calendar" and your google calendar are completely independent of each other and you can't transfer data from one to the other.

If, on the other hand, you have been saving your calendar events to your google account then they will already show up in your online account as long as you have sync enabled on the phone.

The whole operating system of the phone is based around having a google account, so it stands to reason that email, contacts, calendars, maps, groups and pictures should all be saved to/handled by your online google account. Although I wouldn't keep my Picasa Web Albums (google pics) account synced with my phone as I have over 3 Gig of digital pics there.

It's all about the sync. Once it's all set up and working, you'll wonder how you ever managed without it

Thanks for that very helpful and detailed explanation. It's a lot clearer now so I'll enable sync and watch everything appear in my Google account. Do you know if it's possible to change the notification tone that the calandar makes when it's alerting you to an appointment or meeting and if so how do you do it?

Just be aware that you need to physically import the contacts into your google address book the very first time you do it, after that they stay synced.

It is possible to change the notification tone for calendar events by going Calendar > Menu > More > Settings > Select Ringtone.

You can also turn vibrate on or off here.

Unfortunately, the current version of calendar only gives you one single reminder, so if you miss that you're stuffed, other than the calendar icon in the notification bar you wouldn't know that an event or appointment is due.

There are a few third party apps which get around this, I think Handcent is very popular and apparently that can be set up to give continual reminders about events which alert you repeatedly until you manually acknowledge them. I've not used HandCent myself but I know a few people on this forum that use it a lot.

HERE IS THE LINK for Handcent if you want to check it out. I'm not the best person to advise on it though, as I've never used it personally.